Physical Therapy and pumpkin pie for Dad's birthday

I went to Physical Therapy for the first time last week. The therapist was concerned about my lack of flexibility and told me that before we could work on strengthening the muscles around my left knee, we'd have to start with flexibility. He gave me a big white foam roller and prescribed a whole regimen of stretches for me to do multiple times per day. After a week of diligently doing the stretches, I felt a bit better, but still pretty tight.

At our second visit, he recommended some additional stretches but added a few strengthening exercises. Here are a couple photos I had him take of me to serve as reference when I'm at home trying to remember the proper position.

Seated stretch

Simple stair-stepper, made out of an old phone book

Mom sent me a picture this week that really had me puzzled. I've included it below. There were a couple colorful sections, and written on one was, "Mark was here... July 15th, 2001. Exactly one week before my 16th birthday!"

I vaguely remembered having written this, but couldn't remember where it was. Turns out, it was written on the carpet pad in my parents' downstairs bedroom at their house in Provo. We had to replace the carpet pad down there all those years ago when they had been having some moisture problems. She sent me this picture because she had begun a remodel of the room, which is the room where our boys always sleep while in Provo.

Carpet pad

Well, Thursday was Dad's 71st birthday. In usual fashion, we had pumpkin pie for dessert. It's a tradition that I hope we always do. Emmie got in on the action this year and enjoyed her pie. Luke, as always, polished his off in no time and was asking for more. Logan, however, was somewhat hesitant and merely picked at his pie a little bit. Not a huge pumpkin pie fan.

I wonder what Dad would think of my family and our life. We were just barely starting out in Texas when he passed away. I hadn't even found a great place to get a chocolate shake yet! Luke was a little (big) pipsqueak, just seven months old when Dad passed away. We've come a long way and lived a lot of life since May 2009. We sure do miss him, but we talk about him often, and I think the kids will have a sense of his closeness even though they never really knew him.
 

Emmie enjoying some birthday pie

This slice is for you, Dad!

Logan, being a good sport about it.

Luke with a face that says, "Where'd my pie go!?!"

msh

Hagg Hybrid Marathon!

The biggest thing on my mind this past week was whether I'd be able to complete my first marathon at the Hagg Hybrid around Henry Hagg Lake in Oregon. The knee trouble I had been having kept me down and out of regular training for the last couple weeks leading up to race day, and I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to go or not.

On Wednesday of this week, I had nearly made up my mind to not even bother showing up at the race. However, after thinking it through a bit, I figured I ought to give it a shot so I wouldn't always ask myself, "What if?" about whether I would have been able to actually finish the race.

Here's how it all went down! I'm borrowing from an email account I wrote for a fellow runner in Provo:

I mostly rested those last two weeks before the race, running only twice (five and nine miles). The pain was present both times running, and I was feeling very pessimistic about my chances of finishing the race. I stretched, rolled on a foam roller and even had a massage targeted at those affected areas (at your suggestion), but felt like I wouldn't be ready for the race. At one point, I decided that I wouldn't do the run for fear of permanently injuring myself. But within a short time of making that decision, I went back on it and decided to give it a try so I wouldn't be able to ask myself "what if?" from choosing to sit it out.

The day of the race (Saturday) I got up early, had a quick breakfast of a bagel, a banana, and some milk, and I got in the car to make the 75-minute journey to the race location. I felt okay, and I had been specifically praying that my leg would hold up and I wouldn't have major complications, but that I'd be at peace with whatever the outcome.

Henry Hagg Lake

Hagg Hybrid Sign

8:00 a.m. arrived and the race began. The first half of the race was on asphalt with rolling hills, surrounding a beautiful lake in Western Oregon (Henry Hagg Lake). The first mile or two felt a bit rusty and labored. This was probably due to having done so much resting in the final weeks leading up to the race. But by mile three, I felt invigorated, calm, and ready to run. My spirits continued to rise as I reached the mid-point of the race where the road transitions to trail and I hadn't felt any significant discomfort or pain in my right IT band area. I was on track with my pace as well.

Driving across the bridge before the race. I ran over this bridge twice during the race.

The second half of the race was extremely challenging. The dirt trail was very technical, with roots, rocks, and low-hanging branches all around. The dirt was very hard packed and was covered with deep ruts left by mountain bikers from the rainy season when the trails were muddy. Now that it's been dry and hot for a couple months, the trail was nearly hard as rock! My ankles took a beating, as they would occasionally roll on the uneven terrain. The rolling hills continued, and many of these hills were much steeper and difficult to navigate.

When the hills were steep, I had to slow down to a "hike" rather than a jog, but up until mile 14 or so, I hadn't broken my pace. With more than half the race finished, I was very optimistic about my chances, and my heart was full of gratitude that I had made it this far without pain. However, the steep hills and difficult going made me worried that the uneven strides and frequent starting/stopping would aggravate my injury.

My bib was lucky number 13!

My pace slowed down significantly, the temperature continued to rise (it was in the 90s on Saturday, which is unusual for this time of year in the Pacific Northwest), and the distance between aid stations seemed too great. I didn't have a handheld water bottle or Camelbak with me, so I was left to struggle through a couple of very challenging legs between aid stations.

At mile 18, I passed the point of my longest training run but felt like my energy was still good. My phone battery had started running low a mile or two before, so I stopped listening to podcasts and wouldn't have a chance at that point to turn on music to try to keep me motivated.

By mile 20, I felt like I was in a desert. My energy was low, my legs and feet were very sore with every stride, it had been a mile since the last aid station and was another 1.5 miles until the next. I was out in the open now, exposed to the noon-time sun, and my left knee had shooting pain with nearly every stride. Somehow I pushed through and made it to that next aid station where I was able to refuel with water, Gu, Gu Brew and some fresh oranges. They tasted so good! While I was there, a car pulled up and a couple of volunteers jumped out. They had a plate with some grilled cheeseburgers, intended for the volunteers manning the aid station. Seeing those burgers and knowing that I was only a little over four miles from the end gave me the motivation, and a few minutes later I felt the fuel from the recent stop kicking in.

Amazingly, even though I expected them to be extremely challenging, the last few miles weren't the hardest. My phone finally died at 24.4 miles, and shortly thereafter I tripped over an exposed rock and crashed off the side of the trail into some scraggly bushes with those sticker things in them that ended up all over my clothes. It was startling to be suddenly on the ground. I spilled both of the small cups of water I had brought with me from the final aid station!

I pulled myself up, brushed off the dirt and stickers as best as I could, and kept going. Finally, the white tents near the finish line came into sight and I climbed the last hill into the parking lot near the boat launch where the race began and ended. I crossed through the finish line, overcome physically and emotionally, and I gladly accepted the black finisher's mug they had for me there. Never has a small piece of ceramic represented so much work and effort! My time wasn't fast (5 hours and a few seconds), but I had done it!

The Finish line. A glorious sight!

A beautiful day for a run!

My trophy mug!

2014 Finisher!

And I chalk it all up to divine intervention through an answered prayer and a miracle!

After it was all over and I had enjoyed a tasty grilled cheeseburger and a cold drink, I hobbled to my car and got my fresh, dry clothes. I walked down to the dock and to the edge of the water, where I stepped into the water on the really muddy shore. My feet sunk into the mud up to my ankles, and I was careful not to go very far into the water for fear of not having the strength to easily get myself unstuck. I splashed water on my upper body and cooled down a bit before walking back to the restrooms to change into the clean clothes and head home.

The shore of Henry Hagg lake

By the time I got out of my car back at home, I felt nearly paralyzed with stiffness! But I was home and had completed the most difficult physical challenge I've ever had!

I don't know whether I'll let marathon running become my new life passion and hobby. I doubt it, but I may decide at some point to try a second one. If I pick a nice level road course, I'll surely get a PR and maybe have a bit less harrowing experience. :)

But I feel great! Three days removed, my muscles are still very sore, but I'm mobile and able to get up and down stairs much better now than on Sunday when I woke up!

msh

Letter to Logan (March 2014)

Logan,

Mom and I try to write down the funny and cute things you guys say and do, and sometimes we'll be lucky enough to get a photo or video as well. Here are a few photos and things you've said recently that have made us smile.

Logan, Luke, and Emmie in the bath

Mom sent me this picture of the three of you guys taking a bath a few weeks ago. Now that Emmie is getting bigger, we've started giving her baths at the same time as you boys. Luke got a big kick out of "styling" your hair after it got wet. It was pretty funny to see the three of you with funny hair, all sitting together, playing in the bath. I think every parent probably has too many bath pictures.

Case in point, another picture of you and Emmie taking a bath together. I thought this one was cute because you're both sitting there, playing with something I can't see from my angle. You have loved sea animals since Christmas 2012 when someone gave you a bucket of sea-life creatures for Christmas. The sharks and octopus are your favorites. Sometimes we'll play a game in the car or at the dinner table where we'll describe a noise or feature of an animal and ask the others to guess what animal we're thinking about. One of the first ones you did was, "Say which animal has spots" and the answer was the "sand shark" you guys play with which came from this bucket. It's a fun game and you guys crack us up all the time, especially when we get the answer right and you happily announce, "Yep! You got it, Dad!"

Logan and Emmie in the bath

A little over three weeks ago you and Luke must have been "wrestling" in the family room when we heard you cry out pretty loudly. Usually, if Luke has been rough housing a little too much, we'll hear you complain or cry a bit, but you generally quiet down. That day (I think it was Thursday, February 27th), we were concerned because you were pretty hysterical. Luke claims he "fell" on you, but we've since heard him recount the incident by describing it as "jumping" on you. We could tell something was wrong with your right arm or shoulder because you were favoring it so much. We decided to get you some medical attention the next day because you were still in pain and would cry anytime we tried to lift your arm. A trip to the doctor's office, an x-ray, and a bunch of phone calls later, and we had confirmed a diagnosis of a broken collar bone! That's two broken bones in our family this year already (Emmie broke her arm in January; ouch!). Check out the x-ray.

Logan's broken collarbone

You were a good patient though, and have been really pleasant despite not having much use of your arm for the last few weeks. After visiting the specialist, they prescribed you a sling, not so much to totally immobilize you (can you really expect to keep a 3-year-old still!?!) but rather to serve as a reminder to you and to Luke that we need to play 'softly' for the next six weeks. For the first week or so, we had to only dress you in button-up shirts or really big shirts so that you could get them on without having to lift your right arm up very high.

Logan with an Ace bandage, a couple days before going to see the Orthopedic Pediatric Specialist in Portland

Last weekend we did a "stay-cation" over Friday night into Saturday. I got off work early and we headed over to Embassy Suites by the Portland airport where we got a room for the night. We did some swimming in the pool and then went to dinner at a great Texas-style barbecue restaurant called Famous Dave's. You ordered a SUPER tasty cheeseburger; I was a little envious of your food because it was so good! You waited patiently for the food to arrive, but then in your excitement to take your first bite, and due to the gimpy arm in the sling, you lifted the burger awkwardly with your left hand and the meat fell right out from between the two buns, bounced off your shirt, and landed cheese-side down on the floor. You were so sad and started crying because you had waited and were really hungry. The people at the restaurant were really nice and got you a new burger pretty quick. I felt bad seeing you so sad, but I tried to reassure you we'd get you a new one, and I shared some of my other food with you while we waited.

After Famous Dave's we went back to the hotel and went to the reception they do every night in the big atrium/dining area. They had chips, salsa, crackers, and lots of soda. You and Luke were pretty excited to get some Sprite and then dip your tortilla chips in it (kinda weird, but funny at the same time). They also had a bunch of games out for people to play, like Sorry (your favorite!), Checkers, Connect Four, and a few others. The three of us boys sat down there and played Sorry and Connect Four for about an hour while Mom took Emmie upstairs to put her to bed. I was glad to see that the playing pieces were red (Luke's favorite color) and yellow (your favorite color). I taught you guys how to play and we had fun playing for a while. You were really sweet because you would let me take turns with your pieces and tell me "good job!" when I made my choices.

Logan pointing at his diagonal "Connect Four" (in yellow!)

You guys were also very intrigued with the fish that swim around in the indoor stream/pond that goes throughout the big atrium area. There was one fish in particular that was much bigger than the others, and he (she?) had a big brown spot on his head. You guys were fascinated watching the fish that swam over to us, looking up at us intently, opening and closing their mouths like they were expecting us to feed them. I don't know what kind of fish they were, probably goldfish, but they proved to be very entertaining to us all!

Fish in the 'pond'

We eventually went back up to the room and got ready for bed quietly as Emmie slept in the other room. We put on a show for you boys as a special treat as you lay in the sofa bed (which was also super exciting and intriguing to you: a couch that turns into a bed AND watching a show at bedtime!). It took a while to wind down that night and get comfortable enough in your surroundings to go to sleep, but I think you guys slept pretty well considering the excitement of it all.

The next day included a great breakfast at the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, yogurt, milk and juice. Of course, we checked out the fish again for a while before going back up to the room to get our swimming trunks on again. We then went swimming in the pool again and sat in the whirlpool for a few minutes. You guys asked me to tell you the Pool Rules which were posted on the wall and we started making up some of our own, like "No making hot dogs in the pool!" and other funny things.

Here's a picture of you and Emmie from a week or so ago when you and I had been playing "Sorry!" Emmie acts like she plays too and doesn't just mess all the pieces up. She'll grab an unused pawn and make it move like she's counting the spaces. 

Emmie and Logan "playing" Sorry!

Here's a "serious" picture of you and me from the hotel. Sometimes when we ask you to smile for the camera you'll go way overboard and make a crazy cheesy grin and squint your eyes so much that they close entirely.

Dad and Logan, looking serious

Here's one other picture of you and Emmie. She took her first steps about a month ago, but it was finally just this weekend that she started walking all over the place. Since she can now stand up from sitting in the middle of the floor, she's more fun to play. The two of you played for a long time in the family room today. You would hold this little Octonauts toy (Captain Barnacles?) in your mouth and she would try to pull it out or shove it back in. Then after a minute you stood up next to her and she would "push" you over. It was so cute to see you playing nicely with her and being gentle.

Emmie and Logan playing on a Sunday afternoon

I got a good two-minute video of you guys playing. I'm uploading it right now to Vimeo, so I'll include a link here and hope that it works!

I love it because you get excited to come with me to Ward choir practice. You usually sit quietly next to me playing with toys and listening as we rehearse. You have a great ear for music and like to look at the sheet music and ask me if the songs have "crescendos" in them. You've learned a lot of music-related things from watching Little Einsteins, and you'll often hum the themes from classical music you've heard on the show or make up your own funny lyrics. Sometimes at night when I'm tickling your back and tucking you in to bed, you'll ask me to sing songs from Ward choir, and I love it when you sing along during practice or sing the songs to Mom when we get home. It's a pleasure to take you, and I hope your love of music will continue! Music has a unique power and ability to touch and affect people in ways that written or spoken word cannot.

Here are a few funny things you've said lately:

Today during choir you said, "Your first name is 'Dad,' your second name is 'Coach Mark,' your middle name is 'Park.' That's your nick name!" (I am the assistant coach for Luke's soccer team, so Logan heard the kids and head coach calling me 'Coach Mark' the other day.)

Also today, after hearing Luke reciting the "Bubblegum, bubblegum, in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?" rhyme, you tried repeating it and said, "Bubblegum, bubblegum, how many dishes do you want!"

You often ask, "Whobody's gonna play with me?" usually with desperation in your voice. I love that you created the word "whobody." I use it sometimes now, too.

Earlier this week you said to Mom, "You scoot me in too squeezey!" after she had pushed your chair a little too close to the dinner table.

For a while now, you'll ask us things like, "Mommy, do you think I need to go potty?" which is code for "I need to go to the bathroom right now!" It's usually accompanied by nervous dancing. Or you'll ask, "Mom, do you know what words I'm going to say?" And then you'll say, "I love you, Mom!" It's super cute and makes our hearts melt.

Last week in Primary you were chosen for the Spotlight. You're in the Sunbeam class right now, but you were paying close attention as they started at the top of the list and read all the clues. Kids in sharing time are asked to raise their hands if the clues read are true for them. The first clue, of course, was "favorite food" and when they said "Hamburgers" you raised your hand and said, "I love burgers!" Favorite color: yellow; favorite story: Nephi building the boat; and on and on it went. You raised your hand for every clue and were the spotlight kid for the day and were pleased to get a little treat out of it.

I think it's cute that while Luke mostly calls me "Dad," you often call me "Daddy," and Emmie will call me "Dada." That's pretty much the best thing ever, to hear you guys calling me by the different versions of "Dad." I still feel surprised and humbled and overwhelmed all at once when I realize that I am a "Dad" to the three of you little guys. I know you don't like it right now when I call you "little" since you insist that you're a big boy, but to me, you are Little Logan right now, and I don't want you to grow too fast! Your time as a kid is short. That's why I try to take a lot of pictures and enjoy making memories so we can happily remember what a fun, pleasant, exciting, sweet boy you are. You also don't like us using the word "sweet" to describe you since you think it's a "girl word" that describes Mommy. But it's true. You certainly are a sweet kid, and I love you, Logan.

-Dad

Tithing

Tonight we had our annual tithing settlement meeting with the bishop of our ward. We for to declare to him whether or not we are full tithe payers. This is the first year that we've 'paid' the boys an allowance, and they've been putting their money away into a little three-section savings tin with a section for tithing, another for their mission fund, and a third for fun. Tonight we emptied the tithing section for each boy, counted up the coins, and filled out a tithing slip. The boys then handed their tithing envelopes to the bishop, who thanked them and asked them if they knew what the money was used for ('beautiful buildings and temples' in his words). Luke was especially talkative and engaged when conversing with the bishop, both of which really pleased us since he is generally really shy around people he doesn't know well. When we got in the car to come home, he said to us, "I want to keep paying my tithing. I want to pay it every week. And I want to get more yellow slips" (the carbon copy you keep). We arrived home and he set about gathering pens and paper. He wrote each of our names on separate pieces of paper and said we could glue all our yellow slips there. I thought it was really cool to see him get so enthusiastic about something, and I'm glad to see his testimony of tithing developing.

In other news, Logan got his stitches out today at a clinic on Mill Plain called ZoomCare. He was really good and even got a flu shot before leaving. So he ended up with two band aids now! I took him for a frosty waffle cone at Wendys because he was a good and brave boy.

Logan, post stitches. Brave kid.

Logan and his frosty waffle cone.

I love these boys. 

msh

Hungry for a Huge Ham Sandwich

Today's lunch was really good. I made myself a toasted ham sandwich and had some tortilla chips and fresh salsa on the side. If we hadn't had leftovers from dinner tonight, I would probably have the same thing tomorrow.

In other alliterative news, I received some radical road rash while running rapidly tonight. It was really dark, so I totally missed the uneven bump in the sidewalk and took a really hard fall. Apparently my left knee took the brunt of it and started bleeding.

After washing up, it looked loads better and a simple bandaid took care of it. Thanks to Suzanna for fixing me up! Unfortunately, it cut my run a bit short for the night, as I felt like I'd better just head back home to take care of it. 

msh